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Super Smash Bros. (series)
''Super Smash Bros. ''is a series of crossover fighting video games published by Nintendo, that primarily features characters from franchises established on its systems. All fives games have been directed by the creator Masahiro Sakurai. The gameplay objective differs from that of traditional fighters by aiming to knock opponents off the stage instead of depleting life bars. The original Super Smash Bros., released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, had a small budget and was originally a Japan-only release, but its domestic success led to a worldwide release. The series achieved even greater success with the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, which was released in 2001 for the GameCube and became the best-selling game on that system. A third installment, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, was released in 2008 for the Wii. Although HAL Laboratory has been the developer of the first two titles, the third game was developed through the collaboration of several companies. The fourth and fifth installments, [[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U|''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'' and Wii U]], were released in 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, respectively. The 3DS installment was the first series title to be released on a handheld platform. A sixth installment is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch and is scheduled to be released in 2018. The series features many characters from Nintendo's most popular franchises, including Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus Aran, Fox McCloud, Kirby, and Pikachu. The original Super Smash Bros. had 12 playable characters, and the roster count has risen to 26 characters in Melee, 39 in Brawl, and 58 in 3DS/''Wii U'' (seven of which are downloadable). Some characters are able to transform into different forms that have different styles of play and sets of moves. The games also feature non-playable Nintendo characters, like Ridley and Petey Piranha. In Brawl, two third-party characters were added, Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. Additional third-party characters Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ryu, Cloud Strife and Bayonetta appeared in 3DS and Wii U, while Solid Snake was removed from the line-up. Every title in the series has been well received by critics, with much praise given to the multiplayer mode experience. The Super Smash Bros. games have spawned a large competitive community and have been featured in several high-profile gaming tournaments. History ''Super Smash Bros.'' (1999) Super Smash Bros. was introduced in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. It was released worldwide after selling over a million copies in Japan. It featured eight characters from the start (Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu), with four unlockable characters (Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff), all of them created by Nintendo or one of its second-party developers. In Super Smash Bros., up to four players can play in multiplayer (Versus) mode, with the specific rules of each match being predetermined by the players. There are two match types that can be chosen: Time, where the person with the most KOs at the end of the set time wins; and stock, where each player has a set number of lives and are eliminated from play when their lives are depleted. This game's one-player mode included one adventure mode that always followed the same series of opponents although the player could change the difficulty. Other single player modes exist such as Training and several mini-games, including "Break the Targets" and "Board the Platforms". All of these were included in the sequel, with the exception of "Board the Platforms". There are nine playable stages in Versus mode, eight based on each of the starting characters (such as Princess Peach's Castle for Mario, Zebes for Samus, and Sector Z for Fox) and the unlockable Mushroom Kingdom, based around motifs from the original Super Mario Bros., even containing original sprites and the original version of the Overworld theme from that game. ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' (2001) Super Smash Bros. Melee was released November 21, 2001, in Japan; December 3, 2001, in North America; May 24, 2002, in Europe; and May 31, 2002, in Australia for the GameCube video game console. It had a larger budget and development team than Super Smash Bros. did and was released to much greater praise and acclaim among critics and consumers. Since its release, Super Smash Bros. Melee has sold more than 7 million copies and was the best-selling game on the GameCube. Super Smash Bros. Melee features 26 characters, of which 15 are available initially, more than doubling the number of characters in its predecessor. There are also 29 stages. It introduced two new single-player modes alongside the Classic mode: Adventure mode and All-Star mode. Adventure mode has platforming segments similar to the original's "Race to the Finish" mini-game, and All-Star is a fight against every playable character in the game, allows the player only one life in which damage is accumulated over each battle and a limited number of heal items in between battles. There are also significantly more multiplayer modes and a tournament mode allowing for 64 different competitors whom can all be controlled by a human player, although only up to four players can participate at the same time. Additionally, the game featured alternative battle modes, called "Special Melee," which allows players to make many different alterations to the battle, along with alternative ways to judge a victory, such as through collecting coins throughout the match. In place of Super Smash Bros. character profiles, Melee introduced trophies (called "figures" in the Japanese version). The 293 trophies include three different profiles for each playable character, one unlocked in each single-player mode. In addition, unlike its predecessor, Melee contains profiles for many Nintendo characters who are either non-playable or do not appear in the game, as well as Nintendo items, stages, enemies, and elements. ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' (2008) Although a third Super Smash Bros. game had been announced long before E3 2006, Nintendo unveiled its first information in the form of a trailer on May 10, 2006, and the game was named Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The trailer featured Solid Snake, of Konami's Metal Gear fame, marking the first time that a third-party character had been introduced as a playable character in a Super Smash Bros. title. A second third-party character, Sonic the Hedgehog, from Nintendo's former rival Sega was also confirmed as a playable character on October 10, 2007. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in Japan on January 31, 2008, in North America on March 9, 2008, in Australia on June 26, 2008, and Europe on June 27, 2008. Brawl is also the first game in the franchise to support online play, via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and to offer the ability for players to construct their own original stages. The game features a total of 39 playable characters and 41 stages. Brawl also features compatibility with four kinds of controllers (the Wii Remote on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, the Classic Controller, and the GameCube controller), while its predecessors only used the one controller designed for that system. The player also has the ability to change the configuration of controls and the controller type. Super Smash Bros. Brawl features a new Adventure Mode titled Super Smash Bros. Brawl: The Subspace Emissary. This mode features unique character storylines along with numerous side scrolling levels and multiple bosses to fight, as well as CG cut scenes explaining the storyline. The Subspace Emissary features a new group of antagonists called the Subspace Army, who are led by the Ancient Minister. Some of these enemy characters appeared in previous Nintendo video games, such as Petey Piranha from the ''Mario'' series and a squadron of R.O.B.s based on classic Nintendo hardware. The Subspace Emissary also boasts a number of original enemies, such as the Roader, a robotic unicycle; the Bytan, a one-eyed ball-like creature which can replicate itself if left alone; and the Primid, enemies that come in many variations. Though primarily a single-player mode, The Subspace Emissary allows for cooperative multiplayer. There are five difficulty levels for each stage, and there is a method of increasing characters' powers during the game. This is done by placing collected stickers onto the bottom of a character's trophy between stages to improve various aspects of a fighter. ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U| and ''Wii U]] (2014) At E3 2011, it was confirmed that a fourth and fifth Super Smash Bros. game will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with the two games being cross-compatible with each other in some way. Sakurai stated that the announcement was made public in order to attract developers needed for the games, as development for the titles did not start until May 2012 due to production on Kid Icarus: Uprising. On June 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that the creation of the games would be a co-production between Sakurai's Sora Ltd. and Bandai Namco Entertainment. The titles were officially revealed at E3 2013, with new information being released via trailers, Nintendo Direct presentations, and developer posts on Miiverse. The game features 58 characters (seven of which are downloadable) with 19 brand new fighters, including third-party characters Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ryu, Cloud Strife, and Bayonetta. The game was released for Nintendo 3DS in Japan on September 13, 2014, and in North America and Europe on October 3, 2014, and in Australia on October 4, 2014. The Wii U version was released on November 21, 2014 in North America, in Europe on November 28, 2014, in Australia on November 29, 2014, and in Japan on December 6, 2014. ''Super Smash Bros.'' (2018) In April 2014, Bandai Namco Entertainment posted a recruitment advertisement on a Japanese career job opportunity website. The recruitment page consisted of a listing for programmers for Smash Bros. 6, which was expected to be released in 2015 for both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. The page noted there were 120 game developers working on the project at the time, and that Bandai Namco expected that number to increase to 200. However, shortly after its publication, the page was taken down. In a January 2015 column in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was. In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another Smash Bros. game in the series. In March 2018, a Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo Switch was announced during a Nintendo Direct, in which Inklings from Splatoon appeared, suggesting they will be new characters. Sakurai later confirmed that he was working on the game. On March 22, 2018, Nintendo announced that they would host another Super Smash Bros. Invitational event, in which a selected group of players will get to play the game for the first time, and compete in a series of matches before a winner is chosen. The event will take place simultaneously with the first Splatoon 2 World Championship at E3 2018, and will be held on June 11, with the latter event taking place on June 12. Both events are scheduled to be live streamed on Nintendo's official YouTube and Twitch.tv accounts. Gameplay Gameplay in the Super Smash Bros. series differs from many fighting games. Instead of winning by depleting an opponent's life bar, players seek to launch their opponents off the stage and out of the map. Characters have a damage total which rises as they take damage, represented by a percentage value that measures up to 999%. As a character's percentage rises, the character can be knocked progressively farther by an opponent's attacks. To knock out an opponent, the player must knock that character outside the arena's boundaries in any direction. When a character is launched off the stage, the character can attempt to "recover" by using jumping moves and abilities to return to the stage. Some characters have an easier time recovering onto the stage than others due to their moves and abilities. Additionally, some characters vary in weight, with lighter characters being easier to launch than heavy characters. Controls of are greatly simplified in comparison to other fighting games, with one button used for standard attacks and another used for special attacks. Players can perform different types of moves by holding the directional controls up, down, to the side, or in a neutral position while pressing the attack or special button. As such, each character has four types of ground attacks, mid-air attacks, and special attacks that can be performed. Quickly pressing or tapping a directional input and the attack button together while on the ground allows players to perform a chargeable "Smash Attack", which is generally more powerful than other attacks. When characters are hit by attacks, they receive hitstun that temporarily disallows any attacks to be made. This allows combos to be performed. A shield button allows players to put up a defensive shield which weakens with repeated use and will leave the player unable to move if broken. Combining the shield button with directional inputs and attack buttons allows the player to also perform dodges, rolls, grabs, and throws. The three basic actions in Super Smash Bros., attacking, grabbing, and shielding, are often described using a rock–paper–scissors analogy: attacking beats grabbing, grabbing beats shielding, and shielding beats attacking. When a player knocks another player off of the main platform, they may perform an action called edge-guarding. At the same time the player that has been knocked off will try to recover by jumping back onto the stage and avoiding the other players' edge-guarding. Another element in the Super Smash Bros. series is battle items, the abundance of which players can adjust the before matches. There are conventional "battering items", with which a player may hit an opponent, such as a Home run bat or a Beam Sword, throwing items, including Bob-ombs and Koopa shells, and shooting items, either single shot guns or rapid fire blasters. Recovery items allow the user to reduce their damage percentage by varying amounts. Poké Balls are special items that release a random Pokémon onto the battlefield to assist the user. Brawl introduced the Assist Trophy item which serves a similar purpose; instead of releasing Pokémon, it summons a character from a Nintendo franchise. Brawl also introduces the Smash Ball, which when broken allows fighters to perform a character-specific super attack known as a "Final Smash". The rules that can be used in a match vary depending on the game, but the most commonly used settings across all games are Time and Stock. Time mode uses a point based system in which fighters earn points for knocking out their opponents and lose points for being knocked out or self-destructing (i.e. falling out of the arena by themselves). The player with the highest score at the end of the set time limit wins the match. Survival uses a life-based system in which players are given a set number of lives, known as stock, with each fighter losing a life whenever they are knocked out, becoming eliminated if they run out of lives. The winner is the last fighter standing once all other fighters are eliminated or, if a time-limit is applied to the match, the fighter with the most lives remaining once time runs out. In the event of a tie, such as two or more fighters sharing the highest score/life count at the end of the time limit or remaining fighters losing their last life simultaneously, a Sudden Death match takes place. Here, each of the tied fighters are given a starting damage percentage of 300%, making them easier to launch off the stage, and the last fighter standing wins the match. In some games this process is repeated if the match ends in another tie. Gameplay using competitive Smash Bros. rules is usually played in stock mode and with a timer. Items are turned off and the only tournament legal stages are those that do not feature hazards and other disruptive elements. Characters Playable characters Each game in the series has a number of playable characters (referred in the games as "fighters") taken from various Nintendo franchises. Starting with Brawl, characters from third-party franchises have also made playable appearances. At the start of each game, some of the fighters will be locked from play. To unlock a hidden fighter, players need to clear certain conditions, such as playing a certain number of matches, and defeat that fighter in a match. In Brawl, players can also unlock fighters by encountering them in the Subspace Emissary mode. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, players are able to customise existing fighters with altered movesets and statistics, or make their own Mii Fighters that can be given different fighting styles, though these cannot be played in online matches with strangers. Non-Playable characters The following non-playable characters appear only in the various Single Player modes throughout the series, controlled by the computer (CPU). The player can control them only by using various cheat devices. Most of the non-playable characters were created for use in the Super Smash Bros. series. Bosses Throughout the Super Smash Bros. series, most single-player modes have included several non-playable boss characters. These bosses generally have a number of advantageous characteristics, such as extreme resistance to being knocked off of the screen. Most of these bosses were created specifically for the Super Smash Bros. franchise, though some have made appearances in other games. .]] Master Hand appears in ''Super Smash Bros., its sequel Super Smash Bros. Melee as well as Super Smash Bros. Brawl as the final boss of Classic Mode and in the case of Melee, the 50th Event Match "Final Destination Match". Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced a left-hand counterpart to Master Hand named Crazy Hand, which appears alongside Master Hand in some scenarios. Master Hand also makes several appearances in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror as a miniboss, and partnered with Crazy Hand as the bosses of Candy Constellation. It also makes an appearance in Kirby: Squeak Squad as a gray hand that can shift its shape to form swords and the like. Master Hand and Crazy Hand look identical aside from their laterality, but Crazy Hand's fingers act in a more erratic and chaotic way. While Master Hand is more relaxed and mature, Crazy Hand is impulsive and destructive and its fingers move differently when it's preparing for an attack. Its attacks are wilder and faster than those of Master Hand. When being fought simultaneously, Crazy Hand and Master Hand are able to execute moves together, including a series of claps, and the two hands making fists. Super Smash Bros. also introduced Metal Mario (originally from Super Mario 64) and a Giant Donkey Kong. Metal Mario is simply Mario with increased resistance to being knocked out of the stage as well as a faster falling speed and more attack power, while Giant Donkey Kong is simply a larger and more powerful version of Donkey Kong. Super Smash Bros. Melee's Adventure Mode introduced more boss characters that were enhanced versions of playable characters, such as the Tiny Donkey Kong duo, Giant Kirby and Metal Luigi. However, due to items introduced in Melee, such as the Metal Box, Super Mushroom and Poison Mushroom, all of these seemingly non-playable characters (including the enhanced characters that were unplayable bosses in the first game) are indeed playable for short amounts of time as they allow all characters to become Metal, Giant or Tiny. Dark Link, a completely black form of Link, appeared in Melee as a non-playable character. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, gamers can play as Dark Link in the form of a color change for Link. 's final smash attack in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.]] Giga Bowser (known in Japan as ), is a gigantic, enhanced version of Bowser introduced in Melee. He is the secret final boss of Melee's Adventure Mode, only appearing if the player clears Adventure Mode on normal or higher in 18 min. or fewer without continuing. Beat him without using a continue to get his trophy. He is also one of the fighters in the final match of Melee's Event mode, "The Showdown", with Mewtwo and Ganondorf by his side. Giga Bowser has several abilities that the regular Bowser does not. He is so large that he is immune to grabs and similar grabbing moves. As with Metal Mario, Giga Bowser becomes playable for short periods of time in the following game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, when Bowser performs his "Final Smash" attack. Bowser transforms into Giga Bowser, and while he can still take damage, he has permanent super armor, until the effect of the Final Smash wears off. Super Smash Bros. Brawl's adventure mode, The Subspace Emissary, also features boss characters. Some of these characters, such as Petey Piranha, are characters borrowed from other franchises. Others are original and are only in Super Smash Bros. Galleom and Duon are both examples. Other characters preparing to fight 30 Fighting Polygons in Super Smash Bros.]] .]] Aside from bosses, other non-playable characters can be fought in certain single-player modes. '''Fighting Polygons' (or "the Fighting Polygon Team") are metallic-looking purple clones of playable characters made completely out of polygons in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. The next to last level in the game contains 30 of these clones of existing Smash Bros. fighters. They use near-perfect models as their character-counterparts with minute changes to their anatomy, and with a purple texture. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Fighting Polygons are replaced by the Fighting Wire Frames. Unlike the original game, there are only two types of Fighting Wire Frames (Male and Female) as opposed to a Polygon corresponding to each individual character base. The only distinct characteristics Fighting Wire Frames have is that they have a Heart inside their chest, and the Super Smash Bros. Symbol where their face should be. Both the male and female Fighting Wire Frames possess these. Males and Female Wire Frames have the same frame and gait of Captain Falcon and Zelda, respectively. Both models lack special moves. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Fighting Alloy team supersedes both other teams and come in four colors, shapes, and sizes. Finally, in Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, the Fighting Mii Team replaces the former 3, representing male and female Miis in Brawler, Sword Fighter and Gunner. Along with Melee's Adventure Mode came the inclusion of minor, generic enemies, such as Goombas from the Mario franhchise and Octoroks from the Legend of Zelda franchise. This trend continues into Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which will also include an assortment of original characters to serve as non-playable generic enemies led by the Subspace Army. The Subspace Army are the antagonists of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, appearing in The Subspace Emissary and led by the Ancient Minister. Their goal is to bring the entire world to Subspace piece by piece with devices called Subspace bombs (detonated with the aid of two R.O.B.s), though their motives are currently unknown. Among their footsoldiers are the Primid. The Primid are the primary offensive force of the Subspace Army. They are said to come in various forms to do battle. They can be seen forming out of strange purple spores that clump together. A variety of other enemies exist; along with a Squad of R.O.B.s, assorted original enemies include Bytans, small spherical enemies capable of self-replication; Greaps, large robotic figures that attack with large sickles; and Trowlons, enemies with trowel-like arms that attack by lifting opponents, amongst many others. appears in the "Home-Run Contest" minigame in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The object is to strike it as far as possible with either a Home-Run Bat or a fighting move. Sandbag's only purpose is to get hit in the Home-Run Contest. Being hit all the time does not hurt it; it actually loves to see players "wind up and let loose," according to the trophy description. During the actual Home-Run Contest challenge, a player will use their chosen character to hit Sandbag off the pedestal on which it rests within ten seconds. Players damage Sandbag as much as possible while keeping on the orange platform so that it will fly farther. In addition, players are supplied with a Home-Run Bat with which to smash it. In Brawl, the "Home-Run Contest" will also feature two-player modes, online play, and a shield that keeps Sandbag on the platform while it is being damaged. Sandbag also appears as an item, and when attacked, items come out, as a prize. Players may also practice by attacking Sandbag while online multiplayer matches load.